(Partial Translation)(At the first day press meet event of the movie Choukousoku! Sankin koutai)Most of the male actors are above 170cm, while there was even someone over 180cm. Chinen on the other hand, is only 159cm tall.Chinen looked around the stage said: "I really feel it as I stand up here onstage.""When I was in nursery and in grade school, I always dreamed of standing about 175cm tall."He then lowered his shoulders and said: "And then I realized that it was an impossible dream, and I will never get taller than that". He then looked at the monkey Kikuchiyo who had a platform and said: "I want a platform like that too!".Fans in attendance cheered him on and said "Kakkoii yo!" (You're so cool/handsome), and he beamed at them in return.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Actress Keiko Kitagawa (27) will be appearing as the heroine in Fuji TV's new Monday-9 drama HERO which will start on July 14.Takako Matsu previously played the role of the leading lady in HERO, where Takuya Kimura (41) plays an unorthodox prosecutor, in both the 2001 series and the 2007 movie, but passes on the title to Kitagawa this time around."Kimura and Kitagawa have already been together in a Monday-9 drama 4 years ago, in Tsuki no Koibito, so they're already familiar with each other. Kitagawa said that she didn't watch too much TV 13 years ago because she was busy with her high school entrance exam studies, but watched HERO religiously. She's actually happy to be part of this production." - (Fuji TV staff)But there are also some concerns about this, as her previous project Akumu-chan The Mu-vie was a huge flop."One of the biggest reasons for this is that it got crushed by the mega hit Frozen. Despite all the efforts they put into promoting the movie by casting Momoioro Clover and making Keiko Kitagawa join them in a time-exclusive unit "Kimo-Kuro Z", the movie still didn't do too well. Though you still cannot deny that Frozen had a hand in the results, Kitagawa has now been branded as 'an actress who cannot make people come see her at the movie house'." - (movie industry insider)Kitagawa has already emerged into a star from her generation of young actresses, and is said that she potentially has 8.3% of ratings with her. But she was at 10.5% a year ago, so there's also this feeling that she's already past her prime."Actually, other TV networks and competing agencies are kinda hoping that Kitagawa brings with her that 'bad luck' of her flopped movie when she does HERO." - (showbiz production representative)And it is also said that this drama with KimuTaku will have bearing on Kitagawa's future."Even Kimutaku, Mr. Ratings himself, hasn't been able to get the numbers recently. His drama Ando Lloyd on TBS last year averaged 12.78%. This is a remake of a mega hit drama, so the passing mark will be about 18%." And if this drama flops, there's the danger that Kitagawa will be turned into the scapegoat."They say that this is the reason why Takako Matsu turned down the role, but it's not a rarity where they blame the actress when KimuTaku and other Johnny's talents dramas have bad ratings. When this doesn't do well, we can already see how people will start saying 'If only Matsu played the role instead...'. Kitagawa's actually been placed in a pretty tight spot."Will they be able to produce a hit that has the ability to do away with all these doubts and concerns? People will now switch focus to Kitagawa's acting, as well as the drama's ratings.

Actor Takeru Sato (25) and model/actress Kanna Mori (26) were spotted together late at night. Sato was seen looking at the face of the woman he was with at a dining bar past midnight recently. The woman she was with was the stylish and sexy Mori who was in Shomuni 2013. The 2 were having drinks called "Kitty", a mixture of red wine and ginger ale.Takeru Sato is called the number one "co-star killer" in the industry, and has been previously linked with Satomi Ishihara (27), Atsuko Maeda (22), and Ryoko Hirosue (33) -- all of whom have been his co-star at some point in his career. Sato, however, has never been cast alongside Mori in the past."Takeru-kun has a lot of friends from within and outside his agency, and has a lot of common friends with Kanna-san. The two suddenly got close to each other as they kept bumping into each other at parties and such. Kanna-san was raised in a family that constantly moved locations so she has a frank personality and can easily get along with anyone. And not to be fooled by her beautiful looks, she's like one of the men as she never gets ashamed to eat yakiniku or ramen by herself, has strong resistance to alcohol, and never holds chit-chats about love and romance which every other girl loves to do." - (common friend of the two)This actually isn't the only time the two were caught spending time together. There have already been reports that the two started getting close to each other around the time Josei Seven reported about Sato and Hirosue's illicit affair."Takeru-Kun was so sad at that time since he couldn't see Hirosue anymore, and was really down. Takeru-kun then sent a message to all his friends via SMS and LINE to gather them as he was the type who'd vent out all his frustrations and complaints, but everyone was busy and they couldn't make their schedules meet. Kanna-san though, would always come whenever Takeru-kun called -- whenever, wherever just to hear him out. Kanna-san even started saying 'Let's invite Takeru-kun over!' when she's at her own gatherings with her friends." - (common friend)And it also seems like Sato has been showing a side of him to Mori which he has almost never shown to the other women he's been with."Takeru-kun has always been the type who wanted his partner to fawn on him, but he's the one fawning over Kanna-san. Kanna-san is an extremely positive-thinker who basically has the mindset that 'I'm really blessed and happy right now' so she never dwells on any problems. That's why Takeru-kun forgets all his troubles whenever he talks to her and finds comfort in her." - (common friend)

Kodansha will be selling 2 types of Atsuto Uchida's (Schalke 04) official calendar for 2014. The tabletop type will contain pajama, tuxedo, and casual pictures with a total of 128 sheets. The poster type will be life-size.

Uchida's calendar was also sold in 2013, and was high up in the rankings on Amazon together with idol groups such as AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z.At this point, Atsuto Uchida's two calendars have ranked 1st and 2nd in Amazon's calendar pre-order ranking.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Having continuous success from being a child star until turning an adult is a Herculean task. He may have slowed down at one point, but Ryunosuke Kamiki has once again regained his position at the top as a very popular talent.He joined long running theatrical troupe Jidougekidan at the age of 2 in 1995, and debuted in a commercial in the same year. He then made his acting debut in 1999 in Masahiro Nakai's drama Good News.He was then known as a "genius child talent", and at 12, starred as the lead in the remake of Youkai Daisensou in 2005 where he won the "Best Newcomer" award in the 29th Japanese Academy Awards.He starred in his first drama in 2006's Tantei Gakuen Q (NTV) and has constantly been appearing in dramas and movies ever since. One of the biggest reasons why he's survived for such a long time in the industry is his choice of talent agency."He's in this major production firm which manages the Southern All Stars, Masaharu Fukuyama, Takeru Sato, Haruma Miura, and Yuriko Yoshitaka, among others. He receives a wide variety of projects, and he'll be secure even when he gets involved in a scandal with a woman as the agency will clean up after the mess. If he were in a different agency, he would have lost offers and would gradually fade out from the industry." - (TV rep)Kamiki starred in the silver screen adaptation of the best-selling novel Kirishima, bukatsu yamerutteyo in 2012 which sparked his second break. He then went on to make an impressive performance in last year's drama Kazoku Game, which left a stronger impact than the main star Sho Sakurai of Arashi.He has been cast as the lead in the upcoming suspense thriller drama Henshin on WOWOW which is based on Keigo Higashino's novel, and will be in a number of upcoming movies, namely Rurouni Kenshin -Kyoto Taika-hen/ Densetsu no saigo-hen, Kamisama no iutoori, and next year's Bakuman. It seems that he has thorough knowledge of how to survive in the industry.

エルビスコステロのパクリとか言うやついるけど僻みにしか聞こえないわIt's all about how good the melody of their songs are, right?There are those who are saying that they're just ripping off Elvis Costello's style, but those people are just jealous.

Tax evasion, women issues... GACKT has never been short of scandals. Another will be added to the list, as the current issue of FLASH reports that the wife of his backing band member YOU has exposed that her husband was GACKT's ghost writer.According to the publication, YOU was GACKT's classmate in college and is his best friend. This was apparently common knowledge among the fans. But it's also said that YOU is currently in the process of getting a divorce from his wife of 10 years.According to the wife, YOU has been composing the majority of GACKT's songs ever since he went solo. GACKT would write the lyrics at times, or would just let YOU do everything on his own, but all credits go to GACKT.And upon completion of the tune, YOU would charge GACKT's management office which is handled by his sister, and would get paid approximately \500,000 per song. The article in FLASH has also published the copy of a deposit slip and details of the bank book in its article."I don't think GACKT will be able to talk his way out of this one anymore. Due to all of the allegations thrown his way, his scope of activities is now only limited to concerts and the theatrical plays that he produces, as it's gotten quite difficult for him to even make a TV appearance. Even if they do decide to make a sequel of Akumu-chan which was recently adapted for the silver screen, I don't think that he'll be receiving the offer to do it anymore." - (TV staff)It doesn't seem like GACKT's case will escalate to similar proportions with the recent ghost writer scandal of composer Mamoru Samuragochi, but further speculations continue to come up from this, as YOU's wife has also revealed some private matters about GACKT. YOU and the missus lived together with GACKT in his condo unit and she reveals, "I've seen the actress with whom he was rumored in the tabloids. She was living together with GACKT at one point.".This actress is assumed to be Yumiko Shaku, who coincidentally updated her blog on the 12th, the day of her birthday, and denied any romantic relationship with GACKT (without mentioning his name). People will be on the lookout as to how things will develop here as well.

Friday, June 20, 2014

"When I heard the conversation, I thought it was just another one of those young girls who was bragging about her boyfriend so I didn't pay too much attention. But when the door of the private room opened, I got surprised when I saw who was talking..." - (customer present at that time)In the middle of May, the voice of a young girl resonated from a private room of a restaurant in the city."I want to get married to Taka-kun~~~!"And the person who said this was Perfume's A~chan, Ayaka Nishiwaki (25)."A~chan was with a few other people, including some older women. Other things she said which threw me off: 'He cooks for me', 'And it's actually really good!', 'I do feel the love there~'. - (customer present at that time)"Taka-kun" here referes to ONE OK ROCK's vocalist Taka (26), eldest son of ex-couple Shinichi Mori (66) and Masako Mori (55).The two first became an "item" 3 years ago, when it was reported that A~chan visited Taka's room. What's the true relationship between the two?But when we asked for comments from her agency, they said: "There is no truth behind that report" and completely denied the story. Will A~chan's scream reach Taka?

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Director Isao Yukisada, creator of many hit movies such as Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu and Kita no Zeronen,analyzed the appeal of Mana Ashida, with whom he worked for the first time in the movie Entaku: Kokko, Hitonatsu no Imagine. The movie is about an eccentric 3rd grader, Kokko, who lives with her huge family in Osaka, and how her character develops throughout the summer break.(Partial Translation)Director Yukisada commented on Mana Ashida: "She's an actress who possesses wonderful talent". "She's got a rich variety of expressions, and the thing that surprised me the most is her passion for acting. During our first script reading session, she came without her script. She's supposed to have the most number of lines compared to anyone, but she never looked at the script. That left such a huge impression". He also noted how Ashida acted as a leader to the other child actors in the cast.Director Yukisada also takes credit for helping Ryunosuke Kamiki realize his potential in the movie Tooku no Sora ni Kieta. "I can sense this aura of a genius in Ashida which I also sensed when I worked with Kamiki-kun. And the thing that Mana-chan and Kamiki-kun have in common is that both of them love to act".One cannot help but feel how bright Ashida's future is when seeing her running innocently on screen under Yukisada's guidance.

Popular mascot Funassyi was interviewed on CNN, making news anchor Kristie Lu Stout who showed the segment burst into laughter.Stout was trying to hold in her laughter while explaining how the mascot business is huge in Japan, and how they make a major impact on SNS, stating that he has 750,000 followers on Twitter. She even said, "I have to start following him".The moment she was about to switch to the next portion, she suddenly bursts into laughter, as if remembering what she has just saw.A similar thing happened at a Taiwanese news program when Funassyi was featured. The female anchor who saw the VTR laughed and wasn't able to read her script properly. Foreigners probably find it hard not to enjoy the high-pitched voice coming out from the weird-looking character. Thanks to his reception on CNN, it seems like Funassyi is on the verge of becoming a global star.

Actress Kasumi Arimura, who has had countless offers to appear in movies and dramas, has also seen an increase in her TV commercial exposure. "She might even surpass Emi Takei and Aya Ueto as the new queen of commercials" -- this has become a common phrase within the industry.Arimura also showed a very bright disposition towards the staff during the shoot of her latest commercial. And at this rate, she might surpass Rena Nounen and Ai Hashimoto's popularity.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Google's Street View is showing a murder scene! --- After a British publication reported such an incident, CNN set forth to get the details of this 'case'.The place is Edinburgh in Scotland. When you zoom into the map, you'll find a man in red overalls down on the ground, as another man is standing above him. The man has an axe in his hand, and is looking at the camera with a calm face.The name of the man on the ground is Dan Thompson, the owner of a car repair shop on the street that has been running for 30 years. The 'killer' was his mechanic, Gary Kerr. If you zoom in further, you can see that Kerr has a smile on his face, and Thompson revealed that it was all staged.Flashback to August 2012. "I happened to see the Google Street View car running and realized that it was coming this way in 30 seconds. I threw myself on the ground and Gary grabbed a pick axe handle from the garage.".The scene was posted on Google Maps, and Thompson recalls that some of his clients called in and had a huge laugh. Police also came to investigate the place, but fortunately one of the female officers was his client so "they came in smiling, had a really good laugh, and left in 5 minutes".Thompson states that Google hasn't contacted him, but he's "certain that they're happy because that's free promotion for them!". He was disappointed though that he wasn't able to do anything when the Google car passed again on May 29. The reporters tried to contact Google but gave no comment on the news.

Zawachin updated her blog on the 10th, a day after her "SMAP makeup" was featured on SMAPxSMAP's popular segment Bistro SMAP which was aired on the 9th and expressed how grateful she was for all the praises and nice comments that she has received."I would truly like to thank everyone for all of your nice and warm comments, as well as all your compliments on my imitation makeup. I've been reading all your comments and Twitter posts after the broadcast, and have been crying all throughout."She also talked about the time it took to do the makeup of all 5 members: "If I include the time that I spent to remove the makeup and my breaks in between, then I approximately took 20 hours total", while also expressing her gratitude to the program staff who helped with the filming.Zawachin posted the picture on her blog for those who missed the program, which drew comments such as, "This really looks like the real thing! I'm surprised!", "Ehhhh!!! That's so much like SMAP-san!! OMG!".

Thursday, June 12, 2014

A large amount of potato chips were disposed of in Kobe City and Akashi-shi of Hyogo prefecture, as the Hyogo Police arrested Ikki Fukumoto (25), an office worker who resides in Hyogo prefecture's Uozumicho Shimizu, for illegal dumping.The suspect disposed 89 boxes, totaling to about 1,000 bags of potato chips (total weight of 208 kilos) between May 4 and May 23 in 6 areas within Kobe City and Akashi City, such as in the woods and in empty lots. The suspect comments: "I did buy a lot of these, but I didn't know what to do with them so I just dumped them".According to the police, the potato chips came with entry stubs for a chance to win seiyuu Nana Mizuki's concert tickets, as Mr. Fukumoto only cut the stubs out and did not eat the contents. Entries were only valid until the end of May.